I watched Aylard, standing between the pillars. The Unseen were still out there, and there was no way of knowing exactly who belonged to the group and who aided them.
“Do I want to know what you’re thinking about?” Kieran asked. “Because you look like you wish to stab someone.”
“You always think I look that way.”
“Probably because you always want to stab someone.”
“I do not.” I glanced at him.
He raised his brows.
“Except for right now,” I amended. “I’m considering stabbing you.”
“Flattered.” Kieran raised his glass, eyeing Reaver. The draken slowly rapped his claws on the floor. “You often seem to want to stab those you care about.”
“That makes it sound as if I’m…twisted or something.”
“Well…” Kieran lowered his glass, narrowing his eyes at the draken. “Would you like me to pose for a painting? Then you can gaze upon me even when I’m not around.”
My brows flew up. “Can you not?”
“He started it,” Kieran muttered.
“How?”
“He’s staring at me.” A pause. “Again.”
“So?”
“I don’t like it.” Kieran frowned. “At all.”
“You sound like a small child right now,” I informed him, and Reaver huffed out another laugh. I turned to him. “And you’re not any better.”
Reaver reared back his spiked head, blowing out a smoky breath. He looked affronted.
“You’re both ridiculous.” I shook my head.
“Whatever.” Kieran’s head turned to the entryway at the same moment Reaver’s did. “Finally.”
I looked over, realizing that both had heard another’s approach. How, as a god, I hadn’t been blessed with better hearing was beyond me.
Vonetta strode past Aylard, her long legs encased in dusty breeches. She had her tight and narrow, waist-length braids swept up in a knot, highlighting her high, angular cheeks. Except for her deeper skin tone that often reminded me of lush night-blooming roses, in her mortal form, she shared similar features with her brother and looked a lot like their mother, Kirha. While Kieran favored their father, Jasper.
As Vonetta approached us, I wondered who their little sister would take after. The babe had been born only a few weeks ago, and I wished the siblings were with their family now, celebrating the newest addition. But instead, they were here with me, near lands ravaged hundreds of years ago, on the eve of yet another war.
Vonetta wasn’t alone. Emil always seemed to be wherever she was of late.
I bit down on the inside of my lip, stopping my grin. At first, I wasn’t sure that Vonetta appreciated her Emil-shaped shadow. But that was until I’d seen her coming out of his chamber in the early morning hours on the day she’d left for Oak Ambler. The soft, sated smile on her face made it utterly unnecessary to probe any deeper into her emotions.
Vonetta’s steps faltered as she entered the banquet hall, taking note of Reaver. Her brows lifted. “How in the world did you get in here?”
“See?” Kieran lifted a hand. “Valid question.”
The draken thumped his heavy tail on the floor as he huffed out a breath. I had no idea what that meant, but he made no move to approach Vonetta or Emil.
Before I could speak, Emil lowered to one knee as he extended an arm wide in an elaborate bow. “Your Highness.”
I sighed. Many had taken to using that title instead of Your Majesty since it had been used when the gods were awake.
Vonetta stopped, looking behind her. “Are you going to do that every time?”
“Probably.” He rose.
“That means yes in Emil language,” Vonetta remarked as movement beyond the pillars snagged my attention.
Aylard no longer stood there now that Emil and Vonetta were present. Instead, a hunched figure I’d become familiar with the past five days shuffled past the pillars. Emil had taken to calling her the widow, even though no one knew if she had been married. I wasn’t exactly sure what she had done in the manor, as I only ever saw her walking about, sometimes in the ruins in the pines behind Cauldra, which led to Kieran being convinced that she was not flesh and blood but spirit. I’d heard that Aylard had asked her what she was doing here in the manor on the first day, and her answer was only that she was waiting.
Weird. But not important at the moment.
I turned to Vonetta. “Has everyone returned? Wren? Naill—？”